Tenerife has everything prepared at the logistical, methodological, human and administrative resources level to face starting tomorrow, January 1, free public transport. Both in the buses of Titsa and in the Metropolitan and the tram. The Councilor for Mobility of the Cabildo, Enrique Arriaga, anticipates that some 26 new units will be operational from the first day. Of these, 19, recently presented, will reinforce the urban lines of Santa Cruz, and the rest, 7, will cover the most demanded routes, those in the south of the Island. Specifically, the 110, 111 and 112 from the capital’s Interchange to Los Cristianos or Costa Adeje. The insular area calculates the increase in demand between 15% and 20% depending on the area. At the regional level, it has been estimated at an average of 4%, lower when including the peripheral islands.
Arriaga explains: «The logistics, the methodology and the entire technical structure were completed and all that remained was the signing of the protocol with the Government of the Canary Islands, act that took place a few days ago. Although the gratuity begins tomorrow, it is an atypical day because it is Sunday and New Year. Public transport companies adapt their schedules to circulate during the night, while on January 1 they will work as on a festive day. Users can find out about the service on the company’s website.
Free in simple steps
January 1
monthly subscriptions
- The gratuity will be valid from tomorrow, January 1, with the Canarian resident pass, the youth pass, as well as the monthly senior and people with disabilities. There will not be in Tenerife, as in other islands, a transitional period until February 28 to complete the logistics. The Cabildo will maintain the 50% discount indefinitely on the vouchers that do not take advantage of the free measure: those for five trips and those for large families.
free
A minimum of 16 trips
- Users must make a minimum of 15 trips within 30 days of renewal to keep the bonus. Rather, 16, since that extra journey already grants the necessary status of frequent traveler. A trip is, for example, a tram ride.
Validation
Mandatory when uploading
- Validation remains mandatory when uploading. For insurance in case of accident, count the passengers and prove the number of trips.
Acquisition
renovated or new
- Those who already have any of these bonuses can automatically renew them at points such as exchangers from January 1. The new ones have to request it at Ten+.es and pick them up in ten days.
Monday’s revalidation
The revalidation really begins on Monday the 2nd with the normality of a Christmas day prior to Kings. Arriaga points out: «We understand that the next one will be a week of adaptation and the key moment, in which we have paid attention so that everything goes well, is January 9, Monday, when school and work activity recover one hundred percent. hundred”. Starting tomorrow, moreover, the majority of the 30 drivers – out of a total of one hundred new ones – who have already completed their previous training will join the routes.
The president of the Cabildo, Pedro Martín, assures that it is a challenge and trusts that “among all of us we can take advantage of this magnificent opportunity to promote and encourage the use of public transport on the Island.”
Martín remembers the increase in the number of users of almost 20% when the half discount was applied in September. The antecedent leads us to expect “notable growth to take place.” The president trusts “to be able to cover the demand, which is going to be complicated.” He values ”the largest hiring of personnel and buses in the history of Titsa” during this mandate. There are already 120 vehicles, but “another important number will be added in the coming years.”
The Cabildo’s firm commitment to public transport is reflected in the 2023 budgets that contemplate a 65% increase in subsidies (from 60 to 101 million euros) to be able to assume the costs of free transport. «I hope we can keep up and take advantage of this opportunity, a new way of understanding the use of public transport throughout Canary Islands», he concludes.
Titsa transported 4,797,013 passengers last November, an increase of 240,000 passengers compared to October. The figure represents 25% more if compared to November 2021.
Dávila: “A sector is excluded”
The candidate for the presidency of the Cabildo de Tenerife for Canarian Coalition, Rosa Dávila, yesterday accused the regional government and the Island Corporation of “excluding certain users of public transport from being free of charge.” Dávila explains that “the PSOE has set some requirements in Tenerife and the Canary Islands that do not exist in the rest of Spain, to exclude users of multi-trip tickets, such as wallet vouchers.” She affirms that as of January 1 “if there is a change in the bonus, the user loses the right to be free. It is not fair and we demand that they simplify the requirements for the measure to be effective. Enrique Arriaga (Cs, partner of the island government) responds to the candidate: «We have not excluded anyone from being free, we limit ourselves to applying the agreement that CC signed with the Government of Spain as an amendment to the General State Budget (PGE). If they wanted universal gratuity, they would have had to agree to something else. You cannot negotiate one and sell another. | JDM
